Spain’s unemployment rate has hit a 20-year high, with more than 5.6 million people out of work. In the first three months of this year close to 370,000 people lost their jobs and Spain’s jobless rate is now at 24.4 per cent. Unemployment is highest among the youth population, at 50 per cent ::::

The pain from the latest unemployment figures has been compounded by news of a credit ratings downgrade and there are fears Spain will be forced to accept a bailout from Brussels. The government says the gloomy jobless rate is all the more reason for Spain to embrace reforms to cut its deficit, which will lay the foundation for future job creation. But this talk is hard to swallow for those lining up in unemployment queues across the country.

“I’ve taken many courses as an electrician, thinking that the building sector was okay. I’ve learned massage but that didn’t help either, because they say I’m too old so I can’t work as a masseur,” said one man in the queue.

I’m single and I have a daughter and she’s studying. At this point I’m close to living on the street.

said an unemployed Spanish woman

“I thought I could get a job if I took courses, but now I’m looking for work through friends and on the streets.” Another woman said she is close to being homeless. “I have been looking and looking and I’m taking anything that comes up but it’s only little jobs to get me from day to day.”